By Staff
Saturday’s sun showedremnants of nature’s power
By CLAUD HODGES
Newsroom Manager
Flooded areas and wind and water power were witnessed by those venturing out in Washington on Saturday morning.
Tropical Storm Hanna, which had been brewing for several days in the warm waters south of North Carolina, gathered steam and put herself in overdrive Friday and raced across the eastern part of the state on Saturday morning.
Motorists on N.C. Highway 32 east of Washington, also known as Park Drive or River Road, encountered a low, flooded area on the western side of Washington Park (top, left photo) at the foot of the bridge over Runyon Creek. This area is prone to flooding. It was impassable to most vehicles before daybreak; however, by mid-morning, just about any vehicle was able to negotiate the water and make it through.
In Broad Creek, at the eastern end of River Road, a sailboat broke its anchor, and beached itself (top, right photo) on the northern bank of the bay in front of a house. Several boat owners had anchored their water craft in Broad Creek to prevent any damage that might prevail from wave action that could potentially cause harm to the boats if they were left at their mooring places at stationary docks near shore.
Wave action was fierce in the Pamlico River during the hours of Saturday morning as evidenced by the spray and foam (center) produced when the energy carried by the wind moved the water and slammed it into this pier located at Edgewater Beach on the northern side of the Pamlico River.
Also on the north side of the river in Washington, a shelter was flooded (bottom, left) at the City of Washington Havens Garden boat ramp. This flooding was on the west side of the Runyon Creek bridge, also an area that is prone to flooding during rain events in Washington.
Many curious folks ventured to Stewart Parkway on Saturday morning to find the walkway (bottom, right) next to the Pamlico River flooded ankle-deep. No boats were left by their owners at the city docks at Washington’s harbor. Motor yachts and sailboats were anchored in the river between the U.S. Highway 17 bridge and the Norfolk-Southern railroad trestle.
As Broad Creek was a safety nest for many boats, so was Washington’s harbor to the boat owners who berth their water craft by Stewart Parkway.